Join us for the opening of our first-ever Cascadia bioregional summit and the launch of Regenerate Cascadia, a program working for the long-term regeneration of our bioregion and home.  At 5:30 pm, we will open with an introduction and then a presentation by Skagit Elder Jay Bowen. At 6 pm, we will set the context for the bioregional summit, and share a brief retrospective of our 30 day whirlwind tour and impacts. 

Join us for the opening of our first-ever Cascadia bioregional summit, and the launch of Regenerate Cascadia, a program working for the long term regeneration of our bioregion and home.  At 5:30 pm, we will open with an introduction and then a presentation by Skagit Elder Jay Bowen and learn the Salmon Song, a core staple of early bioregional congresses.  At 6 pm, we will set the context for the bioregional summit, and share a brief retrospective of our 30 day, whirlwind tour and impacts.  At 7:30 pm we will close the night with space for testimonials and envisioning for what people would like to have come out of the summit. 

Join us for the opening of our first-ever Cascadia bioregional summit, and the launch of Regenerate Cascadia, a program working for the long-term regeneration of our bioregion and home.  Using a Miro Board, we will collectively map who is in the room, (where we are from, what we feel is most important, and identities and backgrounds we may want to share), what personal offerings and takeaways we’d like to see from this week, and what do people feel is most important as we grow Regenerate Cascadia to weave our projects across watersheds? 

Joe Brewer will join us for our first session of the day to help set context for Regenerate Cascadia, and what we are trying to build. 

Inspired by Vandana Shiva’s vision of Earth Democracy and empowered by the emerging digital systems of blockchain governance, a federated planetary network of bioregional congresses is now possible. In this short talk, Benjamin Life will share more about the collaborative framework of the OpenCivics Consortium and its work to create a space for non-rivalrous research and development on the technological and social foundations of a federated planetary network of bioregional congresses.   I seem to be a verb… Benjamin Life is a civic innovator, community organizer, and artist focused on anti-rivalrous decentralized organizations as a mechanism for systemic and cultural adaptation. His work weaves together both the mythos and practical actualization of a more beautiful world, a world in which all human beings are empowered as agents to co-steward communities, cultures, and ecologies that are thriving, resilient, and participatory. Leveraging a large network of systemic innovators, his work as a co-founder of OpenCivics catalyzes a decentralized research, design, and coordination body able to address the root drivers of civilizational collapse. As a cultural leader, Benjamin produces writing, video, and experiences that express the cultural code of a life-affirming civilization.

Learning how to form a better relationship with water in your landscape can have a profound effect on the planet and the ecosystem’s health and well-being. “Water is all Life” Water is responsible for much of the heat dynamics on earth affecting climate far more than carbon. Learn how to form a better relationship with water in your landscape in order to have a positive impact on global issues personally. Designing a Water-Resilient Landscape Over the last several years we have witnessed increasing occurrences of droughts, floods, and threats of fires. Although we get over 3 feet of rain per year it is not consistent throughout the seasons. I will share with you an overview of strategies that can be implemented on your land to work with water to maximize the benefits and minimize the problems. Learning to read the land and partner with natural systems to create an abundant resilient regenerative system. Questions and answer period will follow the presentation. As a co-steward of Inspiration Farm, Brian has a wide breadth of practical knowledge on how to partner with natural systems to bring forth regenerative stability and abundance. He has three Permaculture Design certificates and is recently one of the first graduates from Zach Weiss’s Water Stories course at the professional level. He now teaches and offers consultations services for others who want to fast track resilient systems of their own. His enthusiasm for sharing this with a wider audience shows in all that he does. Inspiration Farm is an 11 acre homestead styled farm founded in 1994. Integrating Biodynamic and Permaculture practices in relation to annual & perennial food systems, animal husbandry, appropriate technology, land, water and nutrient management. Throughout the year Inspiration Farm hosts a variety of Events, Tours and Workshops. More info can be found at http://www.inspirationfarm.com

Regenerative Constellations can unblock and bring more flow into actual bioregional, local and other initiatives with a regenerative, sustainability, ecological, social, economic, ancestral or leadership angle. We will work with questions from participants that are close to their heart. You are very welcome if you want to constellate a question as a case-giver, if you want to take part in someone else’s constellation or if you are simply curious to see how this process unfolds. If you are not familiar with this way of working: constellations are a collective, embodied process for system-sensing. A constellation makes visible issues, dynamics and relations in a field through the use of representatives. During the process workshop participants can be chosen to represent elements from the system we work with. The facilitator will guide the process and invite participants to share what they experience and resonate with. In a 2-hour session we make visible and tangible the ‘force field’, the relations and dynamics that are at play and connect to what is really going on in the undercurrent, on a practical and on a ‘soul’ level. So you get a better sense of what needs to be faced and where there is potential in terms of openings, levers or a next step. To give an example: last year I facilitated an insightful constellation pertaining to a regenerative forest, water and education project on the Spanish highlands, where the field showed the potential and the entrance point to get the project into more flow. And how important it is to really tune into and listen to the Land. We are all part of multiple and nested systems. A Regenerative Constellation is an opportunity to see how you, your initiative or organization relates to the environmental or societal issue at hand, to the various stakeholders and to the larger ecosystemic and social dynamics that are at play. Case-givers and participants are usually touched by the profound insights that open up when undercurrents become visible and tangible, beyond what an intellectual analysis could provide. Tell us more about yourself My personal calling is to champion inclusive and regenerative living systems and to support the inner development and resilience of changemakers and their projects and initiatives. Currently I facilitate Regenerative Constellations on environmental, social, economic, organizational, ancestral and leadership / personal issues,. As an international Leadership, Team and Organizational Coach and Consultant I am passionate about developing conscious, embodied and regenerative leadership, working with team and organizational dynamics and facilitating transformation and culture change.   Besides 20+ years of (eco)systemic coaching education and experience along all scales, I bring 15 years of experience in staff and leadership positions with the University of Groningen and Dutch Government, as Head of the Insurance Division of the Ministry of Finance and as Deputy Director-General of the Dutch Competition Authority.   I love to dance, also with the paradoxes of life.

With David Haskell – Each of our Salish Sea island communities is home to dozens of nonprofit organizations, agency departments, and grassroots organizations addressing some aspect of the climate crisis. The concept to to unify the many parts, now operating in isolation to build a coherent movement – where we all collaborate to solutions commensurate to the challenges of climate change. We aspire to build upon each community’s successes thus far by sharing expertise, technology, and data and by encouraging more experiments, scaling and sharing the most successful ones for the greater well being of all. Through collaborative community action (e.g. projects) will be gain greater sovereignty over driving public decisions on climate.

Fay Weller will share about Gabriola Climate-12 Action. It is the second phase of the Gabriola Climate 12-12-12 project, which ran September 2022 to August 2023. It brought locals together for 12 months, to look at 12 wicked problems related to climate change, and generate 12 (and more) solutions to reduce Gabriola’s climate emissions and mitigate coming climate impacts.